ID ID - Lonnie Jones, 13, Orofino, September 1951

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Dr.Fessel said:
When I read the very first post I thought the trucker who found him did it.
Click to expand...

I bet Lonnie would have felt comfortable taking a ride with a logger. He would seem a safe bet. :rose: Poor sweet kid.
 
katydid23 said:
My main two POI's would have to be the stepfather and the logger who 'found' Lonnie's body.

But if it was the logger that committed the crime, WHY would he come back later and 'discover' the body? Was it just for the thrill of doing so? It seems kind of dangerous for him to insert himself into the investigation like that. But then again it was a dangerous place to leave the body as well, so maybe he liked the thrill of being so close to being caught.

As for the stepfather, there are some things that make me suspicious too. His occupation seems to tie-in, but I wonder about the timeline. Where was he later that night. I wonder what time he arrived back at his home. It is weird that they saw each other at 4:30 and they didn't make any plans for Lonnie to get back home that evening.

And the stepdad would have a zillion opportunities to kill the boy and hide him somewhere. Why do it that night and leave him so out in the open? All I can think of is that maybe the boy saw his stepfather doing something the stepfather didnt want out in the open. Like being with another woman or a man or something. And maybe the stepfather thought that he could stage it making it look like a random crazy killer did the crime.
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Look at the ad right below the column with the story of the boy.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=1609,2469166&dq=attack+weippe&hl=en
 
Robin Hood said:
Two things jump out to me here http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...r+weippe&hl=en

Pierce and meat cutter.
Did meat cutters wear straw hats ? Maybe they did if they worked in a store. What time did they start work ? The London meat markets here start work either very early or work nights.

http://www.smithfieldmarket.com//content/visitor_information

--------------------------
'Fingers skinned almost to the bone' Could Lonnie have tried to escape and opened a car door while it was moving only to fall and scrape his fingers on the road before being pulled back by his waistband/belt ?
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Dr.Fessel, re the fingers, that caught my attention too.
I think Lonnies hands were behind him because the person who murdered him used his own trouser belt as a restraint and sure as hell needed it back. Lonnie could have been 'fixed' in that position due to some rigamortis while being transported after being kept somewhere. JMO

Edited to add...he wouldn't have had rigor would he ? he didn't die until his throat was cut at the side of the road, oh my, did somebody return later to remove his restraints and get seen, therefore he had to 'find' the body ? IYKWIM
 
I ran across this article (Apr 5, 1952) and thought it might be of interest. Walter Cunningham and his wife abandoned their 9 children. They were arrested in Everette, Wa.

They were returned to Lewiston and WC pleaded guilty to committing lewd and lascivious behavior to a 15 yr old boy. This occurred in Oct 1951. He received a life sentence in Apr 1952. She was charged with worthless checks.

I noticed that he was a carpenter and thought about Lonnie's fingers. I wondered if he could have been involved and if he did something that caused his fingers to be scraped nearly to the bone.

I wonder if he was ever questioned regarding Lonnie's murder.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TfJXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TfYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4554,2303747&dq=morals+charge+idaho&hl=en
 
katydid23 said:
My main two POI's would have to be the stepfather and the logger who 'found' Lonnie's body.

But if it was the logger that committed the crime, WHY would he come back later and 'discover' the body? Was it just for the thrill of doing so? It seems kind of dangerous for him to insert himself into the investigation like that. But then again it was a dangerous place to leave the body as well, so maybe he liked the thrill of being so close to being caught.

As for the stepfather, there are some things that make me suspicious too. His occupation seems to tie-in, but I wonder about the timeline. Where was he later that night. I wonder what time he arrived back at his home. It is weird that they saw each other at 4:30 and they didn't make any plans for Lonnie to get back home that evening.

And the stepdad would have a zillion opportunities to kill the boy and hide him somewhere. Why do it that night and leave him so out in the open? All I can think of is that maybe the boy saw his stepfather doing something the stepfather didnt want out in the open. Like being with another woman or a man or something. And maybe the stepfather thought that he could stage it making it look like a random crazy killer did the crime.
Click to expand...
Yeah though it is not uncomon for a killer to try and insert himself into the investigation.
Perhaps by Thursday with Lonnie's body still undiscovered he got nervous and decided to be the one to 'find' him perhaps with some half baked idea it would remove him from suspicion.
And you raise a good point that has troubled me...whether it was Wood or a relative it seems that up in tiny rural Weippe there would have been a million oportunities to get Lonnie alone and victimize him and conceal his body without stirring up all the drama that the circumstances of his actual murder created.
It makes one wonder just how premeditated it was.
I go back and forth...ive often visualized our killer closing the bars that night,perhaps he got in a fight with some bully cowboy,perhaps he was shunned by some bar maid he had a crush on who knows?
He's driving home feeling low,drunk and powerless and here's little Lonnie by the side of the road and he,deep down has always had a thing about little boys.
He gets him in his vehicle things get out of hand Lonnie panics and this guy goes too far and now he has to do something.
Perhaps he's sobering up and the seriousness of his situation is setting in.
Letting this kid go free to tell everyone he is some kind of deviant is out of the question....
All of which might play if he had killed Lonnie and buried him down at the end of some logging road on the Greer grade never to be found for eternity which actually would have been the easiest thing to do.
We wouldnt even be talking about this if he had.
No one would remember Lonnie except a few Weippe old timers who would recall the name as some kid who ran away to join the Carnival(or something) back in the early '50's.
No instead he drives Lonnie...alive...back to HWY 12 nearly back to Orofino to a very exposed spot to stop his car then marches Lonnie to the edge of the road and coldbloodedly cuts his throat from behind and straight arms him over the bank not like some drunken panic stricken closet case who has gotten in over his head but rather like some supremely confident Jack The Ripper eager to strike horror into society with his latest attrocity.
Often with this case I dont know what to think.
 
Dr.Fessel said:
According to this article the body was staged. The coroner said there was no ties on the boys wrist or marks from ties but his hands were behind his back.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=1609,2469166&dq=attack+weippe&hl=en
Click to expand...
Yeah the same article where the second coroner or pathalogist 'minimizes' the sexual attack also says there was 'no other injury'
Really? What about Lonnie's fingers?
It makes one wonder what was going on here with the findings from the second exam being so different from the first?
This murder has 'sex crime' written all over it.
One wonders how much resistance a terrified 12 year old could be expected to give an adult attacker with his hands bound behind him and probably with a knife to his throat?
The pathalogist seems to be trying to give the impression that since there wasnt evidence of a 'violent' assault Lonnie wasnt molested?
Ive come to the conclusion that the attitudes and mores of the early 50's certainly played a roll in how investigators interpreted the evidence in this case.
 
JeannieC said:
I ran across this article (Apr 5, 1952) and thought it might be of interest. Walter Cunningham and his wife abandoned their 9 children. They were arrested in Everette, Wa.

They were returned to Lewiston and WC pleaded guilty to committing lewd and lascivious behavior to a 15 yr old boy. This occurred in Oct 1951. He received a life sentence in Apr 1952. She was charged with worthless checks.

I noticed that he was a carpenter and thought about Lonnie's fingers. I wondered if he could have been involved and if he did something that caused his fingers to be scraped nearly to the bone.

I wonder if he was ever questioned regarding Lonnie's murder.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...&pg=4554,2303747&dq=morals+charge+idaho&hl=en
Click to expand...
VERY,interesting.Nice find!
Boy you got to give it up for those wholesome,innocent, carefree 1950's!
 
Robin Hood said:
Dr.Fessel, re the fingers, that caught my attention too.
I think Lonnies hands were behind him because the person who murdered him used his own trouser belt as a restraint and sure as hell needed it back. Lonnie could have been 'fixed' in that position due to some rigamortis while being transported after being kept somewhere. JMO

Edited to add...he wouldn't have had rigor would he ? he didn't die until his throat was cut at the side of the road, oh my, did somebody return later to remove his restraints and get seen, therefore he had to 'find' the body ? IYKWIM
Click to expand...
I totaly agree with you about the method of restraint and why it wasnt found with Lonnie.
Perhaps his hands just stayed that way after the rigor faded.
Perhaps Woods decided to remove the belt Thursday morning before he alerted authorities.
As to Lonnies fingers I think we have to conclude that either he was imprisoned inside something and he tried to claw his way out or there was something for him to claw against while he was being assaulted or he was drug along a rough surface like pavement by his ankles.
You guys probably can come up with possibilties ive missed.
 
I think the three most obvious ways to scrape your fingers are the ones Kline mentions in the previous post. I'm sure at the time it would have been noted at autopsy if there were any debris in the wounds, this might give an idea if it were grit, wood, soil etc.

That autopsy would be gold if we could see it.

I'm as sure as I can be that it was definately a sex crime. I totally agree with Kline that earlier somebody was re-buffed or belittled in some way and Lonnie had the full force of that taken out on him.
We need the files, they will show how much investigating the Police did in finding out what certain locals did up to midnight on the night of Lonnies death.
IIRC the cops were finding it hard to trace Lonnies steps that day at the carnival, who he spent time with etc.
Somebody turned Lonnie around and took him back almost back to where he started, maybe to mis direct attention from themselves and avoiding their route home.
The chances of finding him within a few days, just by chance seems unlikely IMO

I also think any old locals living there at the time would have some opinions on individual characters and their habits when drunk, bar fights, scuffles etc.

It might be worth putting an ad in a local paper for stories and interviews from the old folk before it's too late.
 
Robin Hood said:
I think the three most obvious ways to scrape your fingers are the ones Kline mentions in the previous post. I'm sure at the time it would have been noted at autopsy if there were any debris in the wounds, this might give an idea if it were grit, wood, soil etc.

That autopsy would be gold if we could see it.

I'm as sure as I can be that it was definately a sex crime. I totally agree with Kline that earlier somebody was re-buffed or belittled in some way and Lonnie had the full force of that taken out on him.
We need the files, they will show how much investigating the Police did in finding out what certain locals did up to midnight on the night of Lonnies death.
IIRC the cops were finding it hard to trace Lonnies steps that day at the carnival, who he spent time with etc.
Somebody turned Lonnie around and took him back almost back to where he started, maybe to mis direct attention from themselves and avoiding their route home.
The chances of finding him within a few days, just by chance seems unlikely IMO

I also think any old locals living there at the time would have some opinions on individual characters and their habits when drunk, bar fights, scuffles etc.

It might be worth putting an ad in a local paper for stories and interviews from the old folk before it's too late.
Click to expand...
Robin,you touched on something Ive long felt to be the case.
Lonnie was taken back in the complete opposite direction from which he was heading .
In fact the area where he was dumped while still a few miles from Orofino was about the last place he could be dumped in that direction that would provide any cover.
I think it was an attempt at mis-direction becausee I firmly believe Lonnie's killer was heading the same direction as Lonnie:Up the Greer Grade towards Weippe or Pierce when he happened upon Lonnie.
 
I think you are correct and the killer wanted the dump site to be off his own route. I also think carnival workers and gypsies have been used to take the blame far too often.

I'm also considering the blindfold, I'd like to know if it could have been used to hide Lonnie's face rather than stop him from seeing. It's hard for some people to assault/kill who they know, a way of distancing themselves from the act.

I would also be curious to see land ownership documents from the area, somebody could have had some extra land not obvious to authorities a hunting lodge for example.
 
I know this is a stretch but here goes. If Lonnie's hands were put into woodworker's vices the fingers could have been scrapped nearly to the bone. It also could account for his hands being posed in a grotesque position if he died there.

Lonnie could have been taken to a woodworking shop, tortured, and molested than dumped. moo



http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...ge+idaho&hl=en
 
JeannieC said:
I know this is a stretch but here goes. If Lonnie's hands were put into woodworker's vices the fingers could have been scrapped nearly to the bone. It also could account for his hands being posed in a grotesque position if he died there.

Lonnie could have been taken to a woodworking shop, tortured, and molested than dumped. moo



http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...ge+idaho&hl=en
Click to expand...
Nothing about this case would surprise me at this point.
 
Poor Lonnie was let down from the day he drew breath.

Let down when he was left 20 miles from home at a lonely bridge at 12 years old, let down by (IMO) again when the autopsy didn't accurately paint a picture of his injuries, scraped fingers yet no 'injuries'. Let down again when LE failed to catch his murderer and let down finally again by time and missing files.
 
From what I gather the files were turned over to a retired, out of state, FBI guy so the files could well be scattered over a couple of states.
 
Robin Hood said:
Poor Lonnie was let down from the day he drew breath.

Let down when he was left 20 miles from home at a lonely bridge at 12 years old, let down by (IMO) again when the autopsy didn't accurately paint a picture of his injuries, scraped fingers yet no 'injuries'. Let down again when LE failed to catch his murderer and let down finally again by time and missing files.
Click to expand...
That pretty well sums it up in a nutshell Robin.
 
Just a note of interest: I caught a ride home from work with a co-worker who lives in Weippe though she was born in Portland.
We got to talking about this case.
She asked the truckdriver's name.
I said Oren Woods.
He was her first husband's grandfather.
Sadly she doesnt know much about him.
 
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